1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to articles of clothing and more particularly to a garment having a plurality of light-conducting fibers forming a decorative pattern thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the advent of light-emitting fibers which are typically utilized to transmit light from a source to a remote location, numerous uses for such fibers have evolved. Many of these uses have been in the decorative field, some in the form of house furnishings and some in the form of accessories for personal use. In this latter category have been articles of jewelry, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,381 issued to Schreiber, et al., illuminated wigs such as of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,771 of Frohardt, et al., and similarly a coiffeur decorating apparatus for use in the hair disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,005 of Curiel. Another patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,907 of Daniel which discloses a light-emitting fabric woven from optical fibers that can be used in clothing or for home decorating purposes in rugs, draperies and the like. Other uses of light-emitting fibers have been found for illuminating flags or pennants wherein the ends of the fibers are positioned in the pennant to form numbers or letters as desired.
Typically the light rays which are fed into the fibers at one end are transmitted along the length of the fiber and emitted at the opposite end but there is no leakage of light between the ends. For some purposes, such as disclosed in the aforenoted patent to Daniel and also in U.S. Pat. No. 3,535,018 of Vasilatos, the surface of the fiber is either notched or scratched so that light is emitted along the length of the fiber as desired.
While the use of light-emitting fibers is extensive and has even penetrated the clothing market, such use has not been in the form of decorations on articles of clothing and it is to this end that the present invention was conceived and developed.